Monday, March 5, 2012

Your Education Engine

An engine is the instrument of a particular process. The engine is the thing that makes the process go. A quick Google search yielded many examples. Here are a few:

• "failure is the engine of success"
• "imagination is the engine of ideas"
• "productivity is the the engine of growth"
• "economic development is the engine of prosperity"
• "entrepreneurship is the engine of economic prosperity"
• "science is the engine of prosperity"
• "working memory is the engine of learning"
• "digestive health is the engine of immunity"

The engine produces the result, whether it's success, ideas, growth, prosperity, learning or immunity.

The Education Engine in your school is the instrument of your process that produces the result: student achievement.

Of course, a school or district is unlike a mechanical engine in at least one crucial way: the education engine is a process performed by people. In general, for all schools, your staff is the engine of student achievement. Improving your Education Engine requires that you support the development, creativity, cooperation and collaboration of your staff.

The phrases above are in the form "x is the engine of y". In other words, x is the most important element for creating y. We take it as given that in general, your staff is the engine of student achievement. Any improvement that you achieve will be done through your staff. Improvement in the Education Engine will always come down to working with the people of your school.

Beyond the general, at your school, what specific x fits in "x is the engine of student achievement"? The specific x will change from school to school and from time to time. X may be reading, time on task, classroom management, alignment, tradition, high expectations, great teachers, project-based learning, parental involvement or any number of factors. The important thing is that you as the administrator know what is most important for your school now.

Understanding your education engine allows you to focus on improving it, to rev it up so it runs at peak performance. Improving your education engine is the surest path to improving student achievement.

Posted at 8:04 AM (permalink) 0 Comments View/Leave Comment
Keywords: continuous improvement